Canoes have long been popular watercraft due, among other factors, to their light weight, portability, and ease of handling. A canoe typically has capacity for several individuals or a substantial amount of gear and equipment, yet is glides easily and efficiently through the water. As a sport, canoeing has gained in popularity, and enthusiasts commonly transport their canoes from their homes to a distant location, as a lake or a river, to enjoy the sport. Probably the most common method of transport of the canoe is to carry it mounted on the rooftop of a vehicle, typically an automobile. Various prior art devices are devised to provide assistance in loading and transporting a conventional boat on the roof of an automobile, for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 2,785,816 issued Mar. 19, 1957, to Fisher. Even though a canoe is relatively light, difficulty may be encountered in loading it on top of the car, yet those devices of the prior art are not specifically tailored to this type of watercraft.
Bicycling is also a popular pastime and sport, and enthusiasts are apt to want to indulge in both canoeing and bicycling during the same outing. Yet, boat loaders and carriers of the prior art typically do not provide for carrying one or more bicycles on the automobile at the same time that a boat is being transported.